THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association,

56 READE STREET, N. Y.

PRESIDENT.

Hon. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, 56 Reade Street, N. Y.

DISTRICT SECRETARIES.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

COMMUNICATIONS

relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either of the Secretaries as above.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the branch offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. Drafts or checks sent to Mr. Hubbard should be made payable to his order as Assistant Treasurer.

A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which it is located.

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THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

American Missionary Association.

THE ANNUAL MEETING.

We take this last opportunity to invite our friends to meet us in Taunton, Mass., October 29–31. We shall hope to see a goodly number of the old teachers and early friends of the work. Wednesday evening will be mainly in their hands. Among the speakers will be Revs. George R. Merrill, Martin L. Williston, C. M. Southgate, Svlvanus Haywood, W. S. Alexander, and O. W. Demick, Esq.

The speakers for the closing meeting on Thursday evening will be Rev. J. L. Withrow, D. D., Rev. C. D. Hartranft, D. D., and others.

Among those who will read papers on Wednesday will be Rev. M. E. Strieby, D. D., Rev. George Leon Walker, D. D., Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, D. D.

As we go to press, everything promises well for a meeting of unusual interest and power. The people of Taunton are large hearted, and will be glad to have their hospitality taxed to the utmost.

—The new Chinese Ambassadors are men from whose intelligence, experience and wisdom we have much to hope. Chin Lan Pin, first ambassador, is a man of deep learning, being a graduate of the Han Lin College, of the highest class, and a man of extensive travel and observation as well. In 1872, he visited this country as Chief Commissioner in charge of the Chinese students sent to be educated in the Connecticut colleges, and he subsequently visited England and Spain on similar missions. In 1874, he was one of the three Commissioners who were sent by the Chinese Government to Cuba, to investigate the condition of the Chinese laborers there. After locating the several consulates appointed for the United States, he will visit Spain and procure the recognition of a Consul for Cuba, and thence proceed to Peru for a similar purpose. He will then return to Washington and take up his abode as resident Minister.

The Vice-Minister, Yung Wing, is even better known in this country. He was graduated at Yale College with high scholastic and literary honor, receiving the degree of LL.D. He subsequently devoted himself to awakening his countrymen to the needs of reform in education, and his efforts gained official recognition. He has been Commissioner of Education and in charge of the Chinese Educational Mission in Hartford, Conn., and of the 112 Chinese students connected with it.

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We have been glad to read a very clear report published in the Inverness Courier of an address made by Prof. Spence, of Fisk University in that city, in Scotland. The many friends of the University and of Prof. and Mrs. Spence will be interested to know of the work they are doing in Great Britain, and that they are so fully recognized in the Scottish press. We learn from private advices, that they have been very warmly received and cordially heard, and from the places in which they have presented their cause, have reaped fair, if not large, results. What effect the recent failure of the Bank of Glasgow may have upon their future success we cannot tell, but we fear it may dry up many of the streams from which they had hoped to draw.

MR. STANLEY’S INTEREST IN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

It was a remark of Dr. Livingstone’s, that “the end of the geographical feat is the beginning of the missionary endeavor.” And, although all African explorers are not animated with the missionary idea, yet it is easy to believe that an over-ruling Providence uses their efforts for missionary ends.

Mr. Stanley asserts, that the object of his desperate journey was, “To flash a torch of light across the western half of the Dark Continent.” “If the natives allow us a peaceful passage, so much the better; if not, our duty says, go on.” “We are always under the eye of God.” “The one God has written that this year the river [Lualaba] shall be known throughout its length. ‘Think,’ he says, to Frank Pocock, ‘what a benefit our journey will be to Africa.’”

From these different quotations, taken from Mr. Stanley’s recent book, we have a right to infer, that the interests of missions were prominent in his mind throughout his journey. Indeed, his book indicates that he was not only governed by a desire to complete the explorations commenced by Dr. Livingstone, but also to further the missionary endeavors of that godly man. This was evidenced first on his arrival at Uganda on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, where he wrote the following: “A barbarous man is a pure materialist, he is full of cravings for possessing something that he cannot describe. My experience and study of the pagan, prove to me, that if a missionary can show the poor materialist that religion is allied with substantial benefits and improvement of his degraded condition, the task will be rendered comparatively easy. The African, once brought in contact with the European, becomes docile and imbued with a vague hope that he may also rise in time to the level of this superior being who has challenged his admiration. He comes to him with a desire to be taught, and, seized with an ambition to aspire to a higher life, becomes docile and tractable.” “I find them,” he says, elsewhere, “capable of great love and affection, and possessed of gratitude and other traits of human nature. I know, too, that they can be made good, obedient, industrious, enterprising, true and moral—that they are in short, equal to any other race or color on the face of the globe in all the attributes of manhood.”

King Mtesa, the despotic ruler over 2,000,000 of people, appeared to Mr. Stanley the most desirable object for his first efforts. “Mtesa has impressed me,” he says, “as being an intelligent and distinguished prince, who, if aided by philanthropists, will do more for Central Africa than fifty years of gospel teaching, unaided by such authority, can do. I think I see in him the light that shall lighten the darkness of this benighted region. In this man I see the possible fruition of Livingstone’s hopes, for with his aid the civilization of equatorial Africa becomes feasible.” Mr. Stanley further informs us how he followed up his convictions:[323] “Since the 5th of April, I had enjoyed ten interviews with Mtesa, and during all, I had taken occasion to introduce topics which would lead up to the subject of Christianity. Nothing occurred in my presence, but I contrived to turn it towards effecting that which had become an object to me, viz., his conversion. There was no attempt made to confuse him with the details of any particular doctrine. I simply drew for him the image of the Son of God humbling himself for the good of all mankind, white and black, and told him how, while He was in man’s disguise, He was seized and crucified by wicked people who scorned his divinity, and yet, out of His great love for them, while yet suffering on the cross, He asked His great Father to forgive them. I had also begun to translate to him the Ten Commandments, and Idi, the Emperor’s writer, transcribed in Kiganda the words of the Law, as given to him in choice Swahili by Robert Feruzi, one of my boat’s crew, and a pupil of the Universities’ Mission at Zanzibar.”

“The religious conversations which I had begun with Mtesa, were maintained in the presence of M. Linant de Bellefonds, who, fortunately for the cause I had in view, was a Protestant. For, when questioned by Mtesa, about the facts which I had uttered, and which had been faithfully transcribed, M. Linant, to Mtesa’s astonishment, employed nearly the same words, and delivered the same responses. The remarkable fact that two white men, who had never met before, one having arrived from the south-east, the other having emerged from the north, should nevertheless both know the same things, and respond in the same words, charmed the popular mind without the burzah as a wonder, and was treasured in Mtesa’s memory as being miraculous. As the result of these conversations, Mtesa, who can read Arabic, caused the Ten Commandments of Moses to be written on a board for his daily perusal, as well as the Lord’s Prayer and the command of the Saviour, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’”

The encouragement given to Mr. Stanley by his success with Mtesa, caused him to send forth his famous appeal, resulting in the establishment of a mission station at Uganda by the Church Missionary Society of London. He seems, also, to have pursued his work during his stay of several months with Mtesa. Meanwhile, an opportunity was afforded him of testing the genuineness of Mtesa’s conversion. The Wavuma were waging fearful warfare upon Mtesa, during which, his scouts succeeded in capturing one of their principal chiefs. Mtesa was in high glee, and caused to be gathered a large quantity of fagots with which to burn his prisoner. “Now, Stamlee,” he said, “you shall see how a chief of Uvuma dies. He is about to be burnt. The Wavuma will tremble when they hear the manner of his death.” “Ah! Mtesa,” I said, “have you forgotten the words of the good Book, which I have read to you so often—If thy brother offend thee, thou shalt forgive him many times,—Love thy enemies,—Do good to them that hate you?” “Shall this man not die, Stamlee? Shall I not have blood for him, Stamlee?”—“No, Mtesa, no more blood; you must stop this pagan way of thinking. It is not Mtesa the good. It is not Mtesa the Christian. It is the savage; I know you now.” “Stamlee, Stamlee, wait a short time and you shall see.” “An hour afterward, I was summoned by a page to his presence, and Mtesa said: ‘Stamlee will not say Mtesa is bad now, for he has forgiven the Mvuma Chief, and will not hurt him.’”

Mr. Stanley, however, though he had translated for Mtesa the Gospel of St. Luke entire, prepared for him an abridged Bible, selected a site for a church, and detailed the boy Dallington—a pupil of the Universities’ Mission at Zanzibar—to remain at Uganda and serve as a missionary, did not feel that he had provided sufficiently for the spiritual wants of his convert. “A few months’ talk,” he says,[324] “about Christ and His blessed work on earth, though sufficiently attractive to Mtesa, is not enough to eradicate the evils which thirty-five years of brutal, sensuous indulgence have stamped on the mind. This, only the unflagging zeal, the untiring devotion to duty, and the paternal watchfulness of a sincerely pious pastor, can effect. And it is because I am conscious of the insufficiency of my work, and his strong evil propensities, that I have not hesitated to describe the real character of my ‘convert.’ The grand redeeming feature of Mtesa, though founded only on self-interest, is his admiration for white men. By his remarks, he proved he had a very retentive memory, and was tolerably well posted in his articles of belief. At night I left him, with an earnest adjuration to hold fast to the new faith, and to have recourse to prayer to God, to give him strength to withstand all temptations that should tend to violate the Commandments written in the Bible.”

Mr. Stanley’s long intercourse with the tribes of the interior enabled him to discover many traits of character that indicate the aptitude of the negro to receive religious truth. On one occasion, he had dwelt a long while in giving account of great works of art and science, commerce, agriculture, and material wealth; when he turned to the discussion of the grand themes of Scripture and Divinity, the interest in the latter subject was so intense that Mr. Stanley determined to devote himself, with renewed energy, to the promulgation of the doctrines of the Christian faith, discovering—what others had learned before—that the negro has a remarkable appreciation of the things of religion. He gives an incident, which occurred at Mowa Falls, on the Livingstone River, that displayed a quality of heart very suggestive to those interested in the salvation of the pagan.

Uledi, the faithful coxswain who had dared every danger, and proved dutiful and faithful for years and months, having robbed the Expedition of a quantity of beads, a council of chiefs was called, and the question was submitted as to what his punishment should be. One of the most reliable and steady men replied, “Well, master, it is a hard question. Uledi is like our elder brother, and to give our voice for punishing him, would be like asking you to punish ourselves; yet, master, for our sakes beat him only just a little.” Mr. Stanley then inquired of Shumari, who was Uledi’s brother, what punishment he should meet to the thief. “Ah, dear master,” Shumari said, “it is true Uledi has stolen, and I have scolded him often for it. I have never stolen. I am but a boy. Uledi is my elder. But please, master, as the chiefs say he must be flogged, give me half of it, and, knowing it is for Uledi’s sake, I shall not feel it.” “Now, Saywa, you are his cousin. What do you say?” Young Saywa advanced and said, “The master is wise. All things that happen he writes in a book. Perhaps, if the master will look in his book, he may see something in it about Uledi—how he has saved many men, whose names I cannot remember, from the river; how he worked harder on the canoes than any three men; how he has been the first to listen to your voice always. Uledi is my cousin. If, as the chiefs say, Uledi should be punished, Shumari says he will take half of the punishment; then, give Saywa the other half, and set Uledi free. Saywa has spoken.” It would seem that persons with such instincts as these indicated above, would readily come to appreciate and accept the sacrifice of Him by whose stripes we are healed.

A thorough perusal of Mr. Stanley’s “Through the Dark Continent” can hardly fail to arouse in the hearts of those yearning to heal “that open sore of the world,” sympathy and fellowship with him. He had his imperfections, and met with obstacles which brought them sharply into view; but the good he accomplished will be the longest remembered. His noble self-denial, after reaching the West Coast, as seen in his fidelity to his pagan followers, indicates characteristics worthy of profound admiration. Instead of leaving their conduct round the Cape of Good Hope to Zanzibar to the charge of others, and rushing on himself, to receive the plaudits of the proudest courts of the civilized world, he quietly and patiently cared for all their wants, for weary months, returning them to their homes and friends, and rewarding them with the liberality of a father’s affection, which will be lovingly remembered among the tribes from[325] whence his servants came, long after his rich and costly gifts of material things have perished.

All this will be worth something yet to the cause of missions. “When we were gliding,” he says, “through the broad portals [of the Congo] into the ocean, turning to take a farewell glance at the mighty river, I felt my heart suffused with the purest gratitude to Him whose hand had protected us, and who had enabled us to pierce the Dark Continent from east to west, and to trace its mightiest river to its ocean bourn.” That gratitude, we believe, is shared by a mighty host of the followers of Him who shall have dominion from sea to sea—who are already echoing the last words of Mr. Stanley’s book—Laus Deo, Laus Deo.

THE INDIAN AGENTS WE NEED.

The vacancy in the Indian Agency, referred to in the last number of the Missionary, has been filled; but, as other vacancies are likely to occur from time to time, applications, with proper credentials, may be forwarded to this office.

As to the qualifications necessary, we can state nothing more clearly than we find it given in an article, which we republish below, from the Springfield Republican, written by a gentleman who seems thoroughly familiar with Indian affairs. We will only repeat that an Indian Agency is no sinecure, and should be undertaken by no man who is not thoroughly competent and self-sacrificing:

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“HAMPTON TRACTS.”

Among the excellent devices which have proceeded from the fertile brains and earnest hearts of our fellow-workers for the freedmen, none has for a long time commended itself to our hearty approbation more than the one indicated in the above heading. It appears that an English Sanitary Association has for twenty years been engaged in publishing and distributing simple sanitary tracts and leaflets, intended for use in schools and families. Following this excellent example, an editing committee, consisting of General Armstrong, his sister-in-law, Mrs. M. F. Armstrong, Miss Ludlow and Dr. Stephen Smith, of New York, propose, and have already begun, the same good work. They say—

“These publications will provide as simply and in as attractive a manner as possible, carefully prepared information upon all points directly connected with physical life, as, cleanliness of the person and house, ventilation, drainage, care of children and invalids preparation of food, etc., and, as in the case of their English forerunners, they are to be sold for a sum just sufficient to defray the cost of publication and to permit a certain amount of gratuitous distribution. They will be issued in a series, printed at the office of the Normal School Press, Hampton, Va., and will be known as ‘Hampton Tracts.’”

The need and use of such information among the homes and families of the Southern negroes is most apparent, though by no means confined to them. It is in their midst, doubtless, that they will first be distributed.

The American Social Science Association, convened in Cleveland this year, having examined the first three numbers of the proposed series of tracts in manuscript, by a unanimous vote passed the following Resolution—

Again, we desire to express our cordial commendation of the plan, and doubt not it will be carried out in all its details with wisdom and energy.

CONGREGATIONALISM IN THE SOUTH.

That God holds the denomination which stands as the constituency of the American Missionary Association to a large measure of duty in this line, is evident from the fact that by His providence He had been preparing this instrumentality against the day of freedom, and that He has given it now so wide and effectual a door of entrance. At first it entered with physical relief; then with the very first school that was opened among the “contrabands”; then with its system of Normal schools and colleges and professional departments and church organizations. All this was the drift and drive of Providence. To have halted anywhere up to this point would have been to disobey marching orders. And now can anything but the spirit of desertion fail to hear the command ringing on: Go; go, preach; go, disciple the people; go, organize them into the life and fellowship of the churches of Christ? Having started them in the way of Christian education, shall we deny them that school of Christian nurture, the self-governing church? Having given them the elements of the Puritan system, shall we fail to give them its full fruitage? The founding of such churches is but the natural out-growth[328] of this scheme for the elevation of the emancipated race. As in the Interior and in all the West, these ideas and institutions have been a leavening force, so will they be at the South, interpenetrating and uplifting. They will be an example, a stimulus. They will help other communions. Already, our institutions have put not a few educated preachers into the pulpits of the Methodist and Baptist colored churches; and we are glad thus to help in their work. “Expository preaching, with warm application,” says Col. Preston, “should be the preacher’s mode.” Our church members there are gaining the title of “Bible-Christians.” Let churches of such material have a chance.—Dr. Roy, in the Congregationalist.

SUNDRIES.

Iowa Lands, Louisiana Churches, Theological Books.

Of the 6,040 acres given to the American Missionary Association by the Rev. Charles Avery, 1,500 yet remain to be sold. Any person who would like to make a good investment in land, can do so by applying to Secretary Strieby at New York. I found that the railway company were pushing their track along from Algona to Shelby on the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad. So the branch from Huntington on the same road has been built to Sioux Falls in Dakota.

Since the meeting of the Louisiana Conference in April, Rev. Daniel Clay, and his people at Terrebonne, have enjoyed a revival of religion which has added thirty-four to the membership. This sable brother has been the instrumentality in bringing several of the other pastors of that region into the ministry. Rev. W. S. Alexander, pastor of the Central Church in New Orleans, and President of the Straight University, somehow finds time once a year to visit these brethren and these churches which he broods, in the Louisiana Conference. He says they are Congregationalists, ex-animo. This Christian worker, who was turned back from his mission to the nominally Christian lands in South Europe, finds an admirable substitute in the extreme South of our country.

Those young men who in our Southern institutions are coming on to be Congregational divines, ought to have access to the theological literature of the fathers. The common text-book used by their instructors is Pond’s Theology, issued by our Congregational Publishing Society. They ought to have in their libraries, as reference books, the works of Robinson, and Edwards, and Hopkins, and Bellamy, and Park on the Atonement. Now, these books are on the shelves of the C. P. Society, and can be had cheap. The Society has not in hand the means to make the appropriation, but are there not some of the stanch friends of the old Congregational Board and its stanch theology, who will be glad to put those works within the reach of these young theologians of the South? That would be a handsome thing to do, and grand results may follow in solidifying the views of those coming preachers. There are five of these institutions which are teaching theology, and as many libraries that await such an accession of the wisdom of the fathers.—Pilgrim, in Congregationalist.

GENERAL NOTES.

The Peabody Educational Fund.

The Board of Trustees of the Peabody Educational Fund—George Peabody’s gift of $2,100,000 in aid of education in the South—held its annual meeting October 2d, in New York City. The Treasurer reported receipts of $80,000, and disbursements of $77,000. The principal statements of Dr. Sears’s annual report were the following:

The year just brought to a close has been one of unusual pecuniary embarrassment to all the schools of the South. While every branch of the department of education has been affected by it, that relating to the employment of teachers has suffered most.[329] Notwithstanding these discouraging circumstances, the schools in most of the States, instead of deteriorating, have advanced in almost every respect. The attendance was never so great; the interest of the people never so general. An approximation, near or remote, in the great mass of teachers, to the standard of those professionally educated, has been effected, sometimes by county organizations, under State supervision; sometimes by bringing together teachers from all the counties of a Congressional district; and, in one instance, by assembling the teachers of a whole State to receive instruction for a period of six weeks. This is a new feature in the school operations of the Southern States, and is now more rapidly revolutionizing modes of instruction than any other measure that has been tried. No part of the funds at our disposal has produced greater or better results than that contributed to this object. The scholarships established last year have had an excellent effect. Those given to the New Orleans Normal School, in amounts of $150 each, were used for the benefit of pupils from the country parishes. They were ten in number. Those of the Nashville Normal College, of $200 each, were for pupils from beyond the limits of Tennessee.

The number of white children in Virginia, December 1, 1877, between five and twenty-one years of age, was 280,149; that of colored children, 202,640, making in all, 482,789. Of these, 139,931 white children and 65,043 colored were enrolled in the public schools, amounting to 204,974, or somewhat less than one-half. The average daily attendance was only 117,843. The current expenses for the public schools and school officers were $949,721; and for permanent improvements in real estate, houses and furniture, $100,625. Although the current expenses were reduced $36,000, the school work was increased, and the number of pupils was 5,000 greater than the year before. It is well known that the State is largely in debt; and the courts have decided that the school fund may be used for the benefit of the creditors.

In North Carolina the provisions for education are altogether inadequate. There is a great lack of funds, and also of proper organs to execute the law. So long as a meagre State tax is the sole reliance for the support of schools, they will inevitably languish. Double the amount of money now raised would be a scanty supply. The organization of boards of education, and of the other branches of school administration, is radically defective.

The report of the new Superintendent of South Carolina for 1877 shows that 2,483 schools, with an attendance of 102,396 children, out of 228,128, were in operation for a period averaging three months. The State had appropriated $100,000 for their support.

In Georgia, English branches only are taught in the public schools. The total enrolment in 1877 was 191,000. Of this number, 64,000 were colored children. The school funds amounted to $434,000, including $143,000 which was raised by towns and cities. There is a prospect that, under the new Constitution, there will be a large increase of funds.

A letter from Florida reports that in 1877 there were 30,406 pupils in the public schools—about 4,000 over the number reported the previous year. There is an improvement also in the quality of teachers, in the average length of school terms, and in the interest taken by the people.

Few well-graded and well-taught schools are to be found in Alabama. The number of children of school age, in 1877, was 369,447; the number enrolled in the public schools, 141,230, about three-fifths of whom were white. The school expenditures for teachers and superintendents were $384,993.

In Mississippi, the Superintendent regards the situation as hopeful and encouraging. The statistics are very imperfect, as only sixty-five of the seventy-five counties made[330] any report. These give 160,528 as the number of children in school, and $481,251 as the amount of money expended. The enumeration of persons of school age, giving the number of 324,989, is said to “fall far short of the actual number.”

In Louisiana there has been a period of careful re-organization of the public school system, rather than of marked success in achieving decided results in the educational work of the State. The loss of the interest on the trust fund for the year, by an unconstitutional act of the Legislature, and the failure to collect much over half of the $500,000 appropriated by the State, proved very prejudicial to the country districts, where the number of colored children required a much larger number of schools. In the parishes reported, the aggregate attendance of white children was 16,042, and of colored children, 17,511. There are about 20,000 more colored than white children in the State.

The Secretary of the Board of Education of Texas, writing July 30, after saying that the reports giving the statistics of the schools the present year have not yet been received, adds: “Under our present law, our schools have prospered as they never have before.”

Arkansas has provided for 237 Normal beneficiaries, who are entitled to four years’ free tuition. There were last year twenty Normal students in the collegiate course, and thirty-one in the preparatory school. At Pine Bluff there is a branch Normal college for colored teachers, arranged on nearly the same plan, and entitled to the same number of beneficiaries.

The school population of Tennessee, in 1877, was 442,458; 111,523 being colored. The enrolment was 227,643—43,043 being colored; an increase of 33,463 over the enrolment of the previous year. The schools have improved as much in the quality of the instruction given as in the attendance. The amount of school money during the year was $718,423, which is $120,311 less than that of the year preceding. Notwithstanding this diminution of funds, the number of schools was increased by 807, and that of teachers by 791.

West Virginia is one of the least fluctuating of the Southern States in regard to education, and its history is that of a slow but steady growth. The number of persons of school age, or from six to twenty-one years, for the year 1877, was 192,606, being an increase over the previous year of 7,810. Of these, 125,332 actually attended school, being a numerical increase of attendance of 1,828 over the preceding year, and an increase in the average daily attendance of 11,191. There was an increase, also, of 161 in the number of teachers employed. The total value of school property in the State is $1,714,600, being an increase on the preceding year of $54,132. The total expenditure for the year was $921,307, being a decrease of $65,270, caused mainly by a reduction in the rate of teachers’ salaries, and in the number of school-houses built during the year.

During the past year, the income of the fund was distributed as follows: Virginia, $15,350; North Carolina, $4,500; South Carolina, $3,600; Georgia, $6,000; Florida, $3,900; Alabama, $1,100; Texas, $8,550; Mississippi, $600; Louisiana, $8,000; Arkansas, $6,000; Tennessee, $14,600; West Virginia, $5,050.

—A general press dispatch from Washington reports that Mr. Keating, editor of the Memphis Appeal, having had his attention called to a statement by Dr. Ramsey, of Washington, that white women in Memphis have had to take colored men for nurses, or go without, and that the latter have abused their opportunities, pronounces the story utterly untrue. He says that white women have not been put to the necessity of taking colored men for nurses; the other part of the statement is a libel upon the negroes of[331] Memphis. He says: “All honor to them. They have done their duty. They have acted by us nobly as policemen and as soldiers, as well as nurses; they have responded to every call made upon them, in proportion to their number, quite as promptly as the whites. A few of them threatened trouble at one time about food, but they were at the moment suppressed by a company of soldiers of their own color. The colored people of Memphis as a body deserve well of their white fellow-citizens. We appreciate and are proud of them.”—Tribune.

—There is an Episcopal “Theological Seminary and High School” in Virginia. Several colored young men applied for education for the ministry, and were turned away, rather than allow them to receive education with white people.—Independent.

—A General Missionary Conference will be held in London, Oct. 21st–27th. Among the topics to be discussed are the following, which bear especially upon the work of the A. M. A.: “Results of Emancipation, Social and Religious: Probable Influence on Africa,” by E. B. Underhill, LL.D.; “Discovery in Africa as bearing on the new Mission Schemes in Central Africa,” by Sir Fowell Buxton. Rev. Dr. O. H. White, Secretary of the Freedmen’s Aid Society of Great Britain, will represent the Association in the Conference.

—A company for developing commerce with Africa has been organized, under the title of the American and African Commercial Company. Articles of Incorporation have been filed by Congressman Cain, and Messrs. Watts and Porter, well-known colored men. The Capital Stock is 500,000.

—The French Roman Catholic Mission here [Zanzibar] has lately established a station fifteen or twenty miles from Kidudwe, in the Nguru Country, and now a party of ten Jesuit missionaries are leaving Bagamoyo to establish a mission at Ujiji.

—The Methodist Mission at Boporo, Africa, east of Liberia, has met with unexpected repulses. The people wanted trade, and in their disappointment became hostile to the missionaries. They can obtain no site for a mission building. The people were forbidden to give or sell them anything, even to eat, and this interdict had to be bought off. But the missionaries do not despair.

THE FREEDMEN.

FLORENCE, ALABAMA.

A Good Work Well Finished.

REV. L. C. ANDERSON.

I closed up my work at Florence on the first Sabbath of September. Rev. William H. Ash was present, to take charge, in good time. The Lord blessed the end more than the beginning of my labor at F. We were permitted to work in a revival, beginning about the middle of August and lasting up to September 1st. This brought out great numbers of the people, and gave opportunity to reach many. The Spirit was manifested from the beginning, in converting power. About twenty were converted, fifteen of whom joined our branch of God’s Church. So you see that we had great cause to be thankful, when, on the 1st inst., we came together at the Lord’s Table, to re-dedicate ourselves to Him who first loved us and gave Himself for us, to make to Himself a people zealous of good works.

Nothing is more potent than the Spirit of God to break down opposition and remove prejudice. The outpouring from on high turned away the stream of opposition, and so melted the hearts of the people that we could say with David, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”

The first part of my labor at F. was a work of sowing, and stirring up the hearts[332] of Christians, so that, in God’s time, we should be prepared to enter and gather sheaves for the Master. During my labor, twenty-one were added to the church, nineteen on profession of faith. Seven children were christened, and two unworthy members were cut off. In these seventeen months, the little church of twenty members became thirty-nine.

Brother Ash enters upon the work with good promise of success, and has a live church to work with.

A MEMPHIS LETTER.

The following letter, from Rev. Mr. Mallory, will explain itself. It was written immediately after his recovery from the yellow fever:

A NEW ORLEANS LETTER.

The following letter is one of several received by us in acknowledgment of moneys sent by and through the Association, to the sufferers by the yellow fever in the South. It is most gratifying to know that it has been expended with such care, that a return of names and amounts given has been made to us:

SCHOLARSHIP LETTERS.

Extracts from Students’ Letters to their Benefactors.

AFRICA.

THE MENDI MISSION.

Annual Meeting of the Missionaries—The Board of Counsel and Advice.

The missionaries of the Mendi Mission are, in accordance with the instructions of the Executive Committee, organized into a Board of Counsel and Advice. In this capacity they met at Good Hope Station, August 7th, 1878: Rev. Floyd Snelson, President; Rev. A. P. Miller, Secretary. After devotional exercises, with which each session opened and closed, committees were appointed on church work, school work, agricultural work, extension of mission work, reception of scholars, buildings, &c.

We give the reports of these committees in whole or in part, as presenting a clear view of the work in hand, and its wants. We submit the question also with confidence, whether this band of colored men does not, by this careful and business-like survey of its work, approve itself as well qualified to carry on the important mission which has been assigned its members in their far-off fatherland.

The Report of Committee on Buildings.

We, your committee on buildings, beg leave to submit the following report. On entering the field we found all the buildings at Good Hope in a dilapidated condition, three in number, namely, the mission-house, chapel and school-house. The latter was a mere wreck, having been covered with bamboo, which was completely rotten. This allowed the rain to pass through, which hastened its ruin. As we desired to open school and at once proceed to work, we were compelled to repair it. As one of our first duties, the whole building was made anew, and also enlarged at a cost of about £100.

The chapel, too, was in a similar state, although it was covered with boards and tin. The school was held in this during the time of repairing the school-building. As soon as this was completed we proceeded to the repairing of the chapel. From this we went to the mission-house, which we found to need more repairs than we could possibly make before the rains fully set in.

The first work was to begin the covering of this, that the building, with its contents, might be protected during the rains, though we were interrupted frequently, being called to the repairing of the floor, which was fast decaying. We could not cover the whole of the building before the rains had fully set in. The remainder of the roof was patched so that it might serve through this season.

Since the rains commenced some internal repairs have been made. We recommend that the remainder of this building be covered as soon as the weather will permit, and that all or a greater part of it be painted.

We have also been trying to enclose the premises, but under much difficulty. This is very much needed, that cattle roaming about may be kept out.

[335]

At Avery we found three buildings, namely, the mission-house, chapel, freight-house; in addition to these a mill-shed, the three former in good condition. Adjacent to the house is an ell built for a kitchen, bath-house and store. Under the chapel is a room for a school; adjacent to this is another room, used both for school and sewing-room. Also, at the freight-house is a shed-extension used as a lumber wharf. The mill is in a decaying condition, the greater part of it being covered with bamboo, which was rotten, and allowed the rains to pass through, greatly to the injury of the frame-work and the mill apparatus generally. Repairs have been made on this roof more or less ever since our coming on the field. Still, we regret to say that this work is not as yet completed. Repairs have also been made on the under part of the shed, a water-trunk, saw-lever, etc., have been replaced, yet much more is needed to put this structure in good condition, which we deem best to have done during the next dry season. Again, there are other things that must be supplied as early as possible—rubber-belts, etc. The belts, we are informed, have already been ordered by the Executive Committee. As it is so difficult to pass up the ascent from the front wharf to the house, we recommend the construction of an elevated stairway, which would put the whole place in a good condition.

At Debia, we found also one building in a dilapidated condition, namely, the teachers’ home—a structure enclosed with rough boards—three rooms and a bamboo roof. This roof, like most others on the field, was almost worthless. It has been re-covered, and is used at present for school purposes. Previous to our coming on the field, a country building had been erected for a chapel and school, which for want of attention had gone to decay. If this work is to be continued, it is quite necessary that a better building be erected for the same purposes, so that the persons teaching and carrying on the religious work there, may have the use of the house and reside upon the field. Each of the above stations has one or more country buildings erected for different purposes.

We submit all to your consideration.

The Report of Committee on Agricultural Work.

Your committee on agricultural work beg leave to say that at Good Hope, according to records left at this station, there are four hundred acres of land under the control of the Mendi Mission, some of which we think might be very profitably put under cultivation. But we regret to say that we have no means other than hoes and cutlasses to begin such a work.

It was our purpose on entering the field to do something in this direction. Therefore we began to clear the land, turning over some with hoes; but as the premises were not enclosed, and cattle were roaming over them, it was impossible for us to plant to any advantage. Therefore the first part of our work had to be abandoned, and we are giving our attention to the fencing of the premises, with a view to doing something in the agricultural work at the opening of the next season.

The records show that a hundred and sixty acres of land are under control of our mission, at Avery. About eight of these are cleared off, including yard. Three hundred and six coffee-trees are growing on said land. The trees are not in a very promising condition, and we are unable to say as yet what the result will be. The land is very hilly, yet a small portion of it might be utilized to some profit, but must first be cleared. All such work will necessitate an additional expense, the returns of which we need not expect to realize very soon, yet will tend to advance civilization.

Report of Committee on Church Work.

Your committee on church work beg leave to submit to you the following report. We regret to say that on entering the work at Good Hope Station, we found the church abandoned, the doors having been closed for months, since the death of the Rev. Barnabas Root. Many[336] of the members had united with the Church Mission Society.

We re-organized with as much of the old element as willingly returned, and set to persuading others who knew not Christ to come into the fold, and we rejoice to say that our efforts have been blessed. Twenty-two new converts have been added, mostly from among the pupils of the mission, and some who serve as laborers; nearly all from the native element, whose eyes have been opened to the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and have learned to love Him.

Now our number of regular members is forty-four. In addition to these we have baptized ten children. Our church is in a healthy condition, and attended mostly by a native element, preached to through an interpreter. The attendance is good, and at times our accommodations are not sufficient. We hope soon to see many others coming into the kingdom.

We have also organized a Literary Society, which adds greatly to the interest of our work. This meets the first and second Fridays in each month, in our chapel. But like all other departments of our work, this is greatly retarded by continued rains. We hope to redeem the time when the dry season sets in again.

Our hours of conducting services at Good Hope Station are, on the Sabbath, preaching at 11 A. M., Sunday-school at 3 P. M., and prayer-meeting or preaching at 7 P. M. We have also a prayer-meeting Wednesday evening, and one every morning, very early, for the benefit of laborers and natives generally.

At Mannah Bargroo Station, or Avery,

we have a new chapel, which has been opened since our coming to the field. Meetings were conducted in the first part of the year by Bro’s James and White. The people became more and more interested in these meetings. Since the arrival of the new missionaries, Rev. A. E. Jackson has been put in charge of that work, and regular preaching services, together with prayer-meetings, have been kept up.

A number of the old members from Good Hope Church, and those who have been converted, have been brought together, their names enrolled, and other preparations made, looking forward to an early organization, which, we hope, will take place as soon as the weather will allow. Seven adults have been baptized and four children. The whole number enrolled is thirty. There is great interest manifested among others whom we hope soon to see converted.

We have preaching services at eleven A. M., Sunday-school at two P. M., prayer-meeting at seven P. M. Also a Thursday evening prayer-meeting. There is a preaching station outside the mission.

Report of Committee on School Work.

Your committee on school work beg leave to report to the members of the Board of Counsel and Advice, the progressive state of the schools both at Good Hope and Avery, under the existing circumstances. The progress of the schools is wonderful when compared with the chances of the scholars. The advantages have been poor, as we have been trying to fight without arms for the last nine months. We have been, and are now, almost altogether without books, which not only discourages teachers and pupils, but is also a great loss to the scholars and the general work. [Provision was made for a supply of books from England, but a misunderstanding led to delay; the books have since been sent from this country.—Ed.] As time with missionaries is something in Africa, where so much darkness prevails, we lay before you the real needs of our schools.

Many of our scholars attend school with only a handkerchief as a garment, tied around their necks, hanging somewhat cloak-fashion.

School is taught at Debia. The prospect does not seem very hopeful, yet more so than at any time previous. The people are very poor, and are not able to supply the wants of their children. A larger number could be brought in if we were to aid[337] them a little. This, we hope, we shall be able to do, to some extent, in future, as we trust we shall be so advised by the committee at New York.

The Sunday-schools, no small factor in our work, are in a flourishing condition. We stand in great need of Sunday-school books, papers, mottoes, etc., which, we hope, will soon be supplied us.

Our aim is to train up young men and young women, who may go forth into this broad continent, and carry the light to those benighted ones whom we are unable to reach. Therefore, we recommend to this body the importance of establishing, at whatever station in their judgment seems best, a High School for the purpose of training up persons to be missionaries to the dying millions in the interior, with hope of the approval of the Executive Committee at New York.

On Reception of Scholars at the Stations.

The Board resolved itself into a Committee of the whole to discuss this question, after which the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

Resolved: That experience has convinced us that it is absolutely necessary to keep a Boarding Department, to some extent, at each of the stations, viz., Good Hope, Avery and Debia.

(1) Because the people are unable to continue their scholars in school as necessity demands, to fit them for missionary work as suggested by the Executive Committee.

(2) The people on the whole are not sufficiently acquainted with the benefits of an education to compel the attendance of their children, even if they were able.

(3) We can never train up persons to serve as assistants in missionary work without taking them from under the unwholesome influence of their parents, and placing them under Christian influence.

(4) Therefore, seeing the difficulties which exist from having to receive the material upon which we are to work sent us at the will of the parents, we recommend to the Committee at New York that each station be allowed to retain as many scholars as can be well provided for. We submit this to your weighty consideration.

Extension of Mission-Work

was discussed by the Board. This is a question of great importance, and to carry our views into effect, will necessarily require a large sum of money. We regret to say that from the outset we have been greatly embarrassed, in attempting to extend our work, because of the want of means with which to do it. And we are no more encouraged now, from the fact that we are continually being instructed by the Committee that the means are short, and we must curtail expenses. At present we have not a dollar to do this, and we are unable to tell when we shall have. In our view, there are many places which could be opened and worked up with great success. But our present situation forbids any attempt. We hope the change may be such soon that we shall be able to do something in this direction, as we consider this to be one of the purposes for which we were sent out.

Rev. A. P. Miller, Sec.

THE INDIANS.

FORT BERTHOLD, D. T.

REV. C. L. HALL, MISS’Y OF THE A. B. C. F. M.

Yeast.

So Kingsley entitles one of his books; and we may give the name to all those influences which help in preparing the bread of life for this people, or in preparing them to receive it.

First comes the article itself; we have been furnishing them with it to make wholesome bread. Their Indian way of preparing flour, is to fry soggy dough in a[338] panful of grease over a fire made of sticks in the centre of the lodge. Any one who goes back with longing memories to the old days of open fireplace cookery, may enjoy it to his heart’s content without the least contamination with modern conveniences in, a Ree or Gros Ventres or Mandan earth-covered lodge in this place, a journey of only two or three days by railroad and steamboat from Minneapolis. The Indians, however, take kindly to cooking-stoves when our “Uncle” furnishes them; and we are trying, as the first requisite of household health, to teach them to make good bread. Our first step was to create a desire for it, by giving them good bread. But the preference for “white man’s bread” has been created, and the cry for yeast to make it has been daily heard at our door this summer. Lately, we have said, “no more yeast,” but “go and pick hops, and we will teach you how to make yeast”; and specimens of gathered hops are exhibited. It is a great gain to have the people eating wholesome food, for the want of which, in their changed condition of life, and the absence of the former abundance of game, they are dying off. It is greater gain to have them beginning in any way to make home more comfortable, attractive, decent; to have the women improving in cooking, and tidiness of home management; the men drawn to an interest in building better houses; the family to have an ambition for doors and windows and bedsteads, and cups and saucers and tables, and cupboards made of old boxes with calico curtains. But chiefly is it gain to get through such work the confidence and the hearts of the people, that we may lead them to Christ; and if yeast will set the leaven at work by which we may leaven the whole lump, we say, Amen!

Flowers.

We have not limited ourselves to yeast. On Friday afternoons we have given the children who attended regularly, a good meal at a table, with all the accessories of a Christian board, including grace. Other little means of attracting the people to higher things have been beautiful clusters of scarlet blossoms, blooming all the season on the fence, and handsome dahlias and zinnias and four o’clocks, by the house. Groups of little Indians stand open-mouthed before them, or some old woman, with her willow-basket full of corn or squashes on her back, is attracted and cheered by these beauties—gifts of God’s love. That they do notice the flowers at all is a hopeful sign. Early in the spring, I picked a bluebell, and spoke of its beauty to an Indian man who was helping me set fence posts. He said, with a scornful expression at my ignorance: “That isn’t anything, it isn’t good to eat.”

Farming.

Then they study our garden, with its variety of different vegetables and roots, and its young trees. They are doing well at agriculture—better than most Indians in the territory of Dakota. This year their crops of corn, potatoes, squashes and beans are large and fine; but they raise nothing else; and they have not learned to care for stock, to milk, to make butter, and grow feed for cattle. They do not put up hay for their ponies, but let them grow poor during the winter, on such dried grass, and corn-stalks, and cotton-wood bark as they can pick up on the prairie or the bottoms by the Missouri. They are not of much value in harness, but are one with their rider, and endure fatigue and hunger with him marvellously. They think I ought to keep a horse. I tell them my cow gives milk and butter, and their horses don’t. So they look on at our methods of life, and see their superiority; and gradually want to copy them.

Death.

We have striven to open the way for the Gospel by sympathy with, and help for, the sick and dying. One young man among the Mandans died last year as I stood beside him. Before he grew unconscious, he had said to his friend that the white people were coming for him, and he was going. Perhaps some revelation of heaven and God’s love came to him in that shape. There was a woman once who touched only[339] the hem of a garment. There is One who does not quench the smoking flax. Another poor consumptive died this spring, telling her people not to believe what bad Indians said about our malign influences; that we were good; that if she got well she would come to church; that father and mother must not grieve for her, but, if they felt sad, go to us to be comforted. God has been teaching us how to comfort bereaved parents and friends by taking away our own baby, Harry, to the home over there. An atmosphere of sorrow is about all our Dakota mission-stations. Mrs. Thomas Riggs has been suddenly taken from a useful, active life, near Fort Sully, D. T., and lies buried on her field of work; and Mrs. Renville is taken from the Flandreau people, and Miss Williamson from the Yankton people. But “sorrow is the atmosphere that ripens hearts for heaven,” and, ripe for heaven, they are best for earthly usefulness also.

Conversions.

The white employés and white men living among the Indians were all interested this spring, and we hope there were several conversions and much good influence at work. One young man, born of missionary parents in the South Seas, who had wandered here from England and from the Lord, we trust has gone back home to live a better life. One man, with a half-breed family, said: “The white people have been teaching the Indians better ways of living; then you have had school, a good school, and now we are going to have church and religion, and do better.” God grant it, but we have to sow and wait, and wait. Our seasons are short, our spiritual zone northern. Yet God will conquer!

From Devil’s Lake three or four days’ hard travel across the prairies to the north-east, there came a word of cheer in the early summer. Some, especially one man who had been under missionary influence in the Southern part of our Territory, but apparently cared for none of these things, came to see us, and to sympathize with us in our loss (he had lost children), and to get what help he could from us in understanding his Bible, and teaching his friends to read. He went away with the urgent request that we come to Devil’s Lake and preach to them.

Devil’s Lake is a Roman Catholic agency, and they do not preach to them in their own tongue. One thing is certain: if the sons are to talk English to us, we must preach in the Indian tongue to the fathers.

LAKE SUPERIOR AGENCY.

I. L. MAHAN, AGENT, BAYFIELD, WIS.

A Merciful Man, etc.

I am glad to report the following, as one of quite a number of instances that have come within my own knowledge. Last fall, in obedience to the request of twelve of my Indians, I estimated for twelve cows and calves, but received only eight. In consequence of this failure, four of my people were disappointed, after having harvested, at their own expense, a sufficient amount of food to supply the cattle during the winter (by no means an easy undertaking for an Indian). The disappointed ones, however, took the ill luck philosophically, and made the best of the disappointment. They earnestly besought me to try again, and, if possible, get the cows and calves. I did try, and secured each of the four a good cow and calf, for which they each worked upon their own 80s in clearing, etc., under the direction of the Government farmer, thirty-eight days, and received each a cow and calf, and drove them to their houses. A few weeks after, a report came to me that Henry Buffalo was sadly neglecting his cow and calf; that he had secured each to a stake, driven in the ground for the purpose, and had taken his family on a visit to an adjoining settlement, a few miles away, leaving the cow and calf without food to eat or water to drink for days at a time. This, to me, seemed terrible treatment, and I set myself about an investigation, and found that, upon the occasion above referred to, the Indians in the vicinity had all gone to attend church service some miles distant, they having word of the coming of a favorite priest. Friends had[340] advised the stake arrangement—the fences not being considered strong—and made preparations for Henry, in order to induce him to go. He started, but looking back, took pity upon the dumb brute, and returned and remained at home all day, feeding and watering his cow and calf, and using an evergreen brush to keep the flies off. The report was founded upon the fact that his house was locked up. Such care and sympathy is worthy of reward.

An Industrious Builder.

The other day an Indian applied to me for lumber and nails to finish his barn, that he might have a floor to thresh his grain upon. The lumber and nails were furnished him, and, on inquiry, I learned that he had stripped a sufficient number of cedar trees of bark to cover his barn; and not having horses or cattle, had transported it in a small boat, upon the lake, to the nearest point toward his house, and then packed it upon his back one and a half miles. Do you say such zealous and fatiguing labor does not deserve its reward?

Smart Surveying.

The Lac Courte D’Oreille reservation is located in the north-west corner of Chippewa county, near the intersection of Ashland and Burnett counties. It was selected, undoubtedly, for the timber, although some very fine farming-land has been found. The Indians made choice of this region of country on account of the very fine groves of sugar-maple and the large number of inland lakes; but the white man, who defines the boundaries, took occasion to so run the lines that the most of the maple-groves and many of the lakes are left out, and the Indians have a reservation running from south-west to north-west about thirty miles, and from north-west to south-east but about three or four miles. Upon this reservation we have made 160 allotments of eighty acres to individuals, and many good farms have been opened without very much encouragement from the Department, as the Indians long for their patents, as in the case of Red Cliff and Bad River. In passing up the Lac Courte D’Oreille River, I found five new log-houses, and, in one case, about ten acres cleared, and all planted. There are perhaps twenty or twenty-five other houses, that have been built by Indians without any individual aid from Government. They have improved the roads across the reservation. They have some stock, but are sadly in need of more.

No Civilizing Measures.

Belonging to the Lac du Flambeau reserve are 542 Indians, who live almost entirely by trapping, hunting and fishing. They are rovers in every sense of the word, having no houses or permanent homes, save the starry-decked heavens. They are visited each year by the Agent; and such goods and supplies as the Department furnishes are distributed to them as presents. The appropriations are not large enough to supply employés; therefore, no civilizing measures have been introduced here. Five thousand dollars a year, judiciously expended for labor, in building houses, clearing land, and supplying cattle to these Indians, would, in a very short period, place them beyond want; while the present policy—of leaving them to their own inclinations—will make a class of miserable paupers, without knowledge or disposition to be anything else; and the State will sooner or later be called upon to step in between the Indians and the general Government, and exercise some of its Christian charities. These Indians must be aided, or they are lost beyond redemption.

A Farmer on a Rock.

The Bois Forte bands, numbering 797 Indians, have a reservation of 107,509 acres, lying in unsurveyed territory, about forty miles north-west of Vermillion Lake, in Minnesota. They have mingled with the whites but little; therefore have but few of their vices. They roam, fish, hunt and trap for a livelihood. They dress in civilized costumes, and a few of them sow and plant and harvest, live in houses, and have some of the ordinary home comforts; but they are few indeed. They have been banished to perhaps the most wretched of all lands, or[341] rock, in North Minnesota. Their treaty stipulates that a farmer shall be provided. A farmer! Think of it—on such a rock! The explorers report not a spot upon which to plant a potato. There is not a road within forty miles of the reservation. The treaty is rapidly passing away—half gone; soon they will have nothing left. We would most earnestly renew our recommendation of last year, that about 1,000 acres of land on the south side of Vermillion Lake, be set aside for agricultural and educational purposes, and that the Bois Forte Indians be induced to select homes and settle thereon; that the boundary be defined, and that the employés be permanently located.

Schools.

Our schools have been well attended. Books for more advanced scholarship have been a constant demand, and the statistics from teachers and farmers show a gradual improvement. The free-lunch system at Red Cliff and Bad River has been continued all year, and is, without doubt, the most successful medium through which to reach poor and hungry children.

The Wisconsin Scare,

as it is called, might have reached immense proportions had not the officers of the Indian Bureau taken a firm stand against the possibility of such a thing as an Indian outbreak among the Chippewas. The Chippewas have grievances that would make white men tear their hair and howl from one end of the country to the other; but they prefer to submit quietly and peaceably to the powers that be, praying without ceasing, hoping continually that the good men of the Great Father’s household will yet hear and answer their petitions by the necessary legislations.

RED LAKE AGENCY, MINNESOTA.

School, Church, Farm, Mill, etc.

C. P. ALLEN, M. D.

This reservation embraces about 3,200,000 acres of land, of which one-third is supposed to be tillable; two-thirds wooded, grazing and worthless.

Perhaps the most gratifying feature of the work here is the successful opening of a fully equipped boarding-school in November last. Ten boys and as many girls were taken, clothed and fed; the girls were taught to wash, mend, knit, cook, keep house; and the boys were taught to cut and prepare fuel, to plow, plant, grub, do fence and farm work. In addition to the twenty boarding pupils, there were some twenty day-scholars, so that the present capacity of the school is filled. The results are very gratifying.

The missionary work has been under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Mission, who sent last year two native clergymen to labor here; one died in September, 1877. This year, three others have been sent to labor here and across the Lake, where no missionary work has been done, and where the Indians oppose any work of the kind. A church edifice is in process of building, to be completed by December 1st.

Progress is seen in the extent of land in cultivation, in largely increased crops, in fencing made, better dwellings, more stoves, tables, chairs, crockery, better clothing, greater cleanliness, more wash-boards and wash-tubs in use, more comfortable homes; more stock each year; a growing desire to have their children educated; more knitting and sewing done than formerly. Owing to a general lack of snow and water, less has been accomplished this season than usual in the way of building houses, as we had little lumber to build with, although logs were cut, preparatory to driving to mill, to the amount of over 100,000 feet.

Arrangements are about completed for putting in here a substantial little flour-mill this fall, to convert their wheat into nice flour. This will prove a great incentive to increased labor in clearing up land and raising more wheat. This again, will conduce to improved health, as much of their sickness arises from insufficient food, and that of poor quality.

During the last year a new source of revenue has been developed, which is Senega[342] root. Of this, they have dug nearly $4,000 worth, and the supply is not exhausted.

This tribe is not decreasing in number, the births fully equaling the deaths. What we need is to cultivate individuality; to treat the Indians as men and women, not as parts of a tribe; to allot lands in severalty, giving them titles to their homes.

THE CHINESE.

“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”

Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.

President: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. Vice-Presidents: Rev. A. L. Stone, D. D., Thomas O. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon. F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S. H. Wiley, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D., Jacob S. Taber, Esq.

Directors: Rev. George Moor, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. W. E. Ijams, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, E. P. Sanford, Esq., H. W. Severance, Esq.

Secretary: Rev. W. C. Pond. Treasurer: E. Palache, Esq.

In place of our usual communication from Superintendent Pond, which he has not been able to send us, on account of special pressure in his work, we reprint from a California paper the following article by Rev. Dr. M. C. Briggs, one of the leading men in the Methodist Episcopal denomination in California. It embodies very important truth in a most sprightly and incisive style.—[Ed’s Am. Miss.]

CHINAPHOBIA.

“Bring me to the test, and I the matter will re-word that madness gambols at.” This sentence from Shakspeare (I hope it is correctly quoted) is the sole partition between our Assemblymen and a charge of confirmed monomania. All roads lead to Paris, and all subjects of discussion lead these astute Solons to John Chinaman. To assert your philanthropy, curse the Chinese. To prove your patriotism, denounce the Chinese. To abate land monopoly, abuse the Chinese. To eradicate the social evil, grow furious over the Chinese. To regulate finances, tax the Chinese. To quell incendiary mobs, displace the Chinese, and put ruffians in their stead. To pass the Bland bill, expel the Chinese. To effect resumption, crucify the Chinese. To ensure commercial prosperity, exclude forever the Chinese. To show your faith in the Declaration of Independence, levy a high tariff on the bones of the Chinese. To reclaim our swamp lands, howl at the Chinese. To encourage citizens to furnish free meals for white tramps, who refuse to work at any price, drive out from our kitchens the Chinese, who to-day receive higher wages than white men and women are getting in any State east of the Rocky Mountains. To show yourself a hero, hurl brickbats at the Chinese. From whatever point of the political or moral compass these broad and eloquent men set out, they are sure to end with a stereotyped spasm on the stereotyped topic—the infernal Chinese. Such untiring repetitiousness grows stale, and one almost wishes that the “nigger” or the Hottentot, or any human being without a vote, would appear on the political tapis, to offer leather-lunged demagogueism a chance for variety, and the weary ears of the people a rest. Nasby’s patent question, “If the nigger is set free, whom will the Democrats find to look down on?” has been answered to the glory and delectation of both the old parties, and, pre-eminently, of the new party, which has nothing American about it save whisky and brag.

The republic is sick. It has gastric fever, gout, goitre, gangrene, scrofula, sciatica, croup, consumption, ophthalmia, vertigo, small-pox, and cholera. It has eaten too much, drank too much, danced too much, flirted too much, smoked too much, gambled too much, run riot in frivolity, gone mad in greed, flaunted its pageantry of pride, coveted, lusted, blasphemed, forsaken God, despised religion, loved leasing, and hated honest toil, with its health-giving frugality and slow but solid gains. Poor[343] patient! It needs skilful treatment; and what will these queer doctors do? Why, they propose to force emetics and drastics down the throats of ever so many Chinamen. If the case were not so serious, it would be infinitely funny. The patient has brain fever. Kick the Chinaman. It has palpitation. Cuff the Chinaman. It is shaking with chills from Maine to Mexico. Pull the pigtails of the Chinaman. Banks are breaking in New York. Set the dogs on the Chinamen. Mercantile houses are tumbling into ruins in Massachusetts. Arrest the Chinaman on suspicion. Finances are deranged, and Congress is quarreling over resumption. Shoot the Chinamen. The South needs pacification. Cut the throats of the Chinamen. Industry flags everywhere. Get up processions, and raid on the wash-houses of the Chinamen. Wages are six bits a day, without board, in the Eastern States. Banish the Chinamen from California forever and forever. Hurrah!!

There was once a doctor who was “death on burns.” These gentlemen are not a whit behind him, only their specialty, into which they resolve all wounds and diseases, is the Chinese pest, alias the Asiatic nuisance, alias the Cooly invasion, alias the cheap-labor plague of the Pacific Coast.

What repose it gives a State to have wise and just men at the helm of affairs! This epidemic rage—as unstatesmanlike as it is unphilanthropic—so prevalent in the halls of legislation just now, merits the sarcasm of a Lord Brougham. Yet I accord to our Representatives a fair measure of good intentions. The Chinese have no votes, and are not patrons of the press; therefore, it is safe to denounce them. Besides, just now it promises to be a paying as well as a perilless pastime. The rioters have ballots in their hands. “Pathric” counts one (sometimes two or ten) at the polls; and who will defend John? “Pathric” does not care to remember that he was threatened with expulsion on similar grounds, and with equally cogent reasons, in the bygone. It will be well for him to recall the fact; for when once the principle of discrimination is incorporated into the policy of the nation, the bolt that hits John to-day may chance to strike some one else to-morrow. When caste and caprice usurp the place of justice and humanity, every man will thenceforth hold life, liberty and property by sufferance of the mob. It is natural to the weak side of public men, to court the voters’ favor. Not many politicians are tall enough to look over the heads of stump orators and bannered agitators. Has the good God no taller men to send us for these agitated times?

THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.

AN OLD-TIME PRAYER MEETING.

Among the many things which I have observed is the singular form of worship which the colored people practice here. While at Hampton last term, I read Livingstone’s book about Africa. Some of the religious customs related in that volume have certainly been brought over by our forefathers, and are in this enlightened land found mingled with the true religion. The great belief which our people have in conjuration, (or “throwing for each other,” as they call it) signs, and the returning of departed spirits, confirm the above opinion. Not long ago I went to one of their meetings. It was held in a little church about twenty-two or twenty-three feet long, and twelve feet wide, with three windows, which have shutters of plank, through which, when shut, little or no air can pass. In the middle of the floor sits a large stove in which a very hot fire was kept during the meeting. The preacher was to have come that night, but for some reason he disappointed them. His absence, however, did not prevent their having an “Old-time prayer-meeting,” as they call it. So, after waiting for some time for their[344] pastor to arrive, they commenced the meeting by singing a hymn, given out by one called “the leader of the band.” Prayer and a short exhortation came next. Indeed, these two parts of the opening exercises were well performed by a young man. But, in the scene which followed his excellent prayer and advice, he (though somewhat intelligent) was one of the chief actors. One or two more hymns were sung from the hymn-book. I heard some of the women say: “If those men don’t stop singing those dry tunes we’ll take our bonnets and go home.” By the women ceasing to sing, the men discovered that there was something going wrong. The “leader of the band” seems to have seen at a moment’s glance what caused the commotion, and immediately struck up the well-known “I, John, Saw.” The women now joined in; and the woods and hills rang with the resounding melodies of that music which has never known a teacher, but yet is wonderful and almost sublime. While this “shout” was being sung the men and women gathered around the stove, the men on one side and the women on the other. The church by this time had become full of people. One could not kneel down without leaning on some one else. All three of the windows were shut, and the shutters closed. A fire was in the stove. Soon a sickening feeling came over me, caused by the impure air which pervaded the place. I asked one who was standing near the window to please open it. “You want us to freeze, don’t you?” said he. I looked up, and, to my great satisfaction, found that the roof was full of holes, and I knew that hot air rises, so I said no more to the man about the window. The “leader” had now become too warm it seemed, for while we were at prayers he took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves, exclaiming at the same time, “Get ready, children, we are going to drive out the devil to-night!” The others, as soon as they saw him without a coat, immediately disrobed themselves of theirs. Had I expected to see such heathenism I am sure I would not have gone to the meeting. After this there came a tumult and excitement—women jumping among the men, men holding each other; some of the young girls uttering screams which really could have been heard a mile; and some tearing their clothes off without regard to womanly modesty. But what discouraged me most was to find among this seething mass some of my school-children. After the meeting was over, and all on our way home, a shameful fight came off between two of the leading shouters (females), about something which had been said during the meeting.

What shall I say, having seen such degrading things with my own eyes, (and I have not told the worst). All I can say is this: Let us work on with our might, and hope for better things. “For if God be for us, who can be against us?”

—Student’s letter in the Southern Workman.

RECEIPTS

FOR SEPTEMBER, 1878.